It reads like a storyline from The Fugitive: an American businessman, under investigation for financial fraud and recently separated from his wife, tries to fake his own death by ditching the aircraft he was piloting and parachuting to a new life.

Marcus Schrenker has been accused of the elaborate ruse, which began on Sunday when he apparently made a fake mayday call to authorities, claiming that the windshield of the single-engine aircraft had imploded during turbulence and he was bleeding.

Military jets, which had been scrambled to help the troubled pilot, tried to intercept the plane, noticed that the door was open and the cockpit dark. The aircraft, apparently on autopilot, then crashed into a swampy area of north Florida, in a bayou surrounded by homes.

Police believe that after Mr Schrenker made his distress call he had intentionally abandoned the aircraft and parachuted to safety near Birmingham, Alabama, to start his life again.

The door to the crashed plane was left wide open, there was no body or blood at the scene, and Mr Schrenker, 38, had left behind a life of drama — financial management companies under investigation and an impending divorce.

According to reports, in the weeks before the crash, the life of the businessman and accomplished pilot had been spiralling downward. He had lost a half-million-dollar judgment against one of his companies when he skipped a court hearing and his wife had filed for divorce just after investigators investigating his businesses for possible securities violations searched his home and office.

Authorities believe that Mr Schrenker was last seen yesterday morning in Childersburg, Alabama — about 225 miles from where the aircraft crashed — when a man using his driver's licence told police that he had been in a canoe accident. The man was wet only from the knees down and had what appeared to be goggles made for flying.

The officers, unaware of the air crash, took him to a hotel. He was gone by the time they returned. They learnt that he had paid for his room in cash before putting on a black cap and running into the woods next to the hotel.

Bill and Debbie Timbie, whose house is less than 100 yards from where the plane crashed, were at home on Sunday night when they heard the jets flying overhead. Mr Timbie gave rescuers looking for the downed aircraft a ride through the swamp in his canoe.

“Now, after you think about it, it could have been real bad, it could have taken out two or three houses,” he told reporters.

Insurance regulators in Indiana had charged Mr Schrenker with misleading consumers and misappropriating hundreds of thousands of dollars, The Indianapolis Star newspaper reported. On New Year's Eve, investigators had executed criminal search warrants for three wealth management businesses he owned, the newspaper said.

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